Hummer to China

At the close of last week’s Congressional delegation trip to China to discuss, among other things, climate change commitments, Rep. Edward Markey had this to say about the upcoming Copenhagen talks and efforts to convince the Chinese to agree to GHG caps (as reported in the NYT): “This is going to be one of the most complex diplomatic negotiations in the history of the world.”

Not encouraging words. Today comes news that a Chinese manufacturer is buying Hummer from GM, with the aim of growing Hummer sales “both in the U.S. and overseas markets, particularly China.” Many will see this–probably rightly–as a metaphor for how we in the U.S. have sold the dream of an unsustainably polluting, outsized consumerism to people around the world, their adoption of which coincides, O. Henry-style, with our crashing realization that we can’t live this way anymore.

On the other hand, we may wind up with a hybrid Hummer out of the deal: Tengzhong “plans to invest in research and development to produce Hummer-branded products such as more fuel-efficient vehicles for the U.S. market.” Stranger things have happened.